With present day power tools, it would be highly desirable to provide some means for obtaining usage and other pertinent information concerning the operation of the tool without the need for disassembling a housing of the tool or otherwise mechanically accessing interior portions of the tool. Present day electronic components, such as controller/memory modules, are sufficiently small such that they can be easily housed within the housings of various types of power tools such as drills, saws, sanders, etc. A system and/or method which allows an external device to communicate over a power cord of the power tool with an electronic module mounted within a housing of the tool to obtain usage and/or operating information concerning the power tool would be highly advantageous. Such a system would eliminate the need for a service technician to disassemble the tool to gain access to the electronic module. It would allow manufacturers to quickly and easily obtain highly pertinent operating and usage information recorded by the electronic module. It would further eliminate the need to include a port somewhere on the housing, which is something that is not easily accomplished on small, hand held power tools such as drills, hand held sanders, etc.